Box, Vigo or 007?

The Box R is the one to take into a tight car park. The Vigo is the one to load with family luggage. The 007 Premium is the one to take the long way home in. After three separate reviews, those are the clearest reasons to choose between Dongfeng’s hatchback, SUV and saloon.

They are not three sizes of the same car. Their cabins work differently, their software has different frustrations, and the 007 Premium belongs to Cat B rather than Cat A. A higher score does not make a nearly five-metre saloon the obvious replacement for a small hatchback.

Based on eevee’s existing reviews, not a new back-to-back test. The Box R was reviewed by our guest reviewer; the Vigo and 007 were separate loans. Prices below come from Volt Auto’s list valid 19 August to 9 September 2026, noon, using its four-bid guaranteed-COE package. Finance, insurance and trade-in conditions apply. Treat them as dated comparisons, not today’s quotation.⁴

There is also a newer advertised Box promotion at S$171,888 with guaranteed COE and a free Box R upgrade, subject to conditions. It is a different offer from the dated four-bid list above. Ask which package you are being quoted.⁵

The Box R makes the small-car case

The Box R’s best trick is making driving feel manageable. Our guest reviewer found it easy to place, easy to park and immediately approachable. You do not need to care about electric-car technology to appreciate a hatchback that asks for so little effort.

The cabin does more than the shape suggests. There is quilted upholstery, an unusually cheerful interface and a passenger-side drawer that can serve as a little dressing table. In the R, both front seats are ventilated. The cat in the display is not a reason to buy a car, but the space and equipment around it are.

CarPlay worked smoothly in the review. A physical volume control would have helped, and setting off briskly took more accelerator than the reviewer expected. The firm brake pedal and busy ride stopped it being an entirely soft, cuddly little thing. None of that made it difficult to live with.

Its 326-litre boot is the smallest here. That matters more than the difference between the three scores if the car has to carry a pram and bags every day. For a buyer whose main concerns are parking, short trips and a friendly cabin, the Box R has a much clearer purpose than its price position alone suggests.¹

The Vigo spends its money on space

At the dated four-bid prices, moving from the Box R to the Vigo costs S$6,000. The extra boot space is substantial: 500 litres with the seats up, rather than 326. The split tailgate is useful, too, providing a ledge rather than simply lifting the entire back of the car out of the way.

Our review’s strongest praise was for the seats. They were comfortable enough to make the other compromises easier to accept. The steering was light, the car was straightforward to drive, and there was none of the pressure to turn a family SUV into a performance car.

That does not mean it was polished everywhere. Lane-keeping intervention was intrusive enough for us to turn it off. There was no blind-spot monitoring on the tested Essential. Wireless CarPlay was fine, but Android Auto depended on an external dongle. Those are worth checking during a demonstration, particularly if more than one person will drive the car.

The panoramic glass also let plenty of warmth into the cabin. Air-conditioning performance and driver-assistance behaviour are more useful things to investigate here than whether the removable speaker makes a good sales-floor demonstration.

The Vigo is the practical choice of these three for a family that needs the boot and likes a higher seating position. It earned the lowest score because the overall experience had more rough edges, not because its extra space was imaginary.²

The 007 Premium earns its extra cost on the road

The price gap is much larger here. On the same dated package, the Premium is S$42,000 above the Vigo. It brings a 200 kW rear-mounted motor, a larger battery and a very different response to the accelerator.

Our 007 review was enthusiastic about that combination. The car felt fast without becoming unfriendly, and the software was among the strongest parts of the experience. Useful shortcuts, clear information and a good sound system made the cabin feel considered rather than merely full of screens.

There were cheaper surfaces in places, and phone integration still had to cover some missing native functions. The 4.88-metre body also needs more parking space. Its 452-litre boot is smaller than the Vigo’s quoted 500 litres, so buying the more expensive car does not win every practical category.

The crucial detail is the word Premium. This is the 200 kW Cat B car we drove and scored 7.9. The cheaper Cat A Prestige is a different variant. Giving the Prestige’s starting price to the Premium makes the latter look like an extraordinary bargain that the price list does not actually offer.

In the original review, the preference for the Premium over the other 007 variants was explicit. That supports recommending it to someone shopping for a 007. It does not mean every Box or Vigo buyer should spend another S$42,000 to S$48,000.³

Which belongs on your shortlist?

Box R: start here for easy parking and a well-equipped small cabin. Check the ride and low-speed pedal response, then see whether the boot takes your actual bags.

Vigo: start here for family space. The seats, larger boot and split tailgate are persuasive, but check the driver aids and the phone connection with the devices you use.

007 Premium: start here if the drive matters and a Cat B saloon fits both your budget and your parking space. It is the strongest all-round review in this group, at a substantially higher exact-variant price.

There is no reason to buy the biggest one solely because its score is higher. The useful choice is between three sets of compromises you can identify before a test drive.

Compare the three cars side by side →